Adult Swim Announces New Series & Pilots

UPDATED: Ahead of Adult Swim‘s upfront next Wednesday, which will feature a performance by Kanye West, the network has set a slate of new animated and live-action series, pilots and specials. It includes previously announced new half-hour animated comedy series Rick And Morty, from Community creator Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, which is set to premiere in primetime later this year; a Mike Tyson quarter-hour animated series featuring the former boxer as a mystery solver; and off-network acquisition Bob’s Burgers, which launches this summer. 2013 marks Adult Swim’s most-watched year to date among adults and males 18-24, 18-34, and 18-49. Here are details about the network’s new original series, specials and pilots:

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New original series and specials:

RICK AND MORTY- Rick and Morty is about a genius inventor grandfather and his less than genius grandson, and the journeys in life they share. From Dan Harmon (Community, Channel 101) and Justin Roiland. Animated half-hour.

MR. PICKLES – In Mr. Pickles, the urban sprawl of modern society pollutes the old-fashioned town where the Goodman family lives with their lovable pet dog, Mr. Pickles, a deviant border collie with a secret satanic streak. From creators Will Carsola and Dave Stewart (Funny Or Die Presents Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time). Animated quarter-hour.

MIKE TYSON MYSTERIES – In the new animated comedy series Mike Tyson Mysteries, Mike Tyson is taking the fight from the boxing ring to the streets… by solving mysteries! Armed with a magical tattoo on his face and a trusty associate by his side — a talking pigeon — if you have a problem that needs solving, Iron Mike is in your corner. The series incorporates live-action appearances featuring Mighty Mike himself, and the gloves come off as the former heavyweight champ and his fowl-mouthed partner gear up for weekly adventures as they put unsolved mysteries — like how to defeat a super computer at chess or why a famous author/werewolf can’t finish his novel — down for the count. Animated quarter-hour from Warner Bros Animation.

KING STAR KING – King Star Kingfeatures a punk rock, modern day he-man who falls from the realm of the gods to land as a fry cook in a slummy waffle joint. King Star King must regain his memory to defeat the evil (and adorable) Spring Bunny and rescue his love, the megababe Princess Snow White. Only then will King Star King regain his rightful place in the heavens. From artist JJ Villard (Monsters Vs. Aliens). Animated quarter-hour.

YOUR PRETTY FACE IS GOING TO HELL – This new live-action series from Adult Swim is a workplace comedy about Gary, an associate demon, as he attempts to capture souls on earth in order to climb the corporate ladder of the underworld. Gary hopes to advance in Hell, but he may be too stupid, lazy and kind-hearted to realize his dreams of promotion. Meanwhile, Gary’s intern Claude is more talented, more devious and will do whatever it takes to impress Satan. A Williams Street production, the show is created and directed by Dave Willis(Squidbillies, Aqua Teen Hunger Force) and Casper Kelly (Squidbillies, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Stroker & Hoop). The series is currently presenting premiere episodes on Thursday nights at Midnight ET/PT on Adult Swim. Live-action quarter-hour.

METALOCALPYSE: THE DOOM STAR REQUIEM– In Metalocalypse: The Doom Star Requiem, we pick up directly after the abduction of Dethklok guitarist Toki Wartooth in the season 4 finale. With his life in danger his only salvation can come from the four most selfish human celebrities on earth—his bandmates, extreme metal band DETHKLOK. Will they be able to get past their own egos to help someone besides themselves? Find out in this one-hour heavy metal rock opera special with a completely original score. Created by Brendon Small, Metalocalypse: The Doom Star Requiem airs in October. Animated one-hour special.

HOT PACKAGE – Premiering in October on Adult Swim, Hot Package is a live-action fictional Canadian entertainment news program in vein of “Entertainment Tonight,” “EXTRA,” or “E! News.” Hot Package is created by and stars Derrick Beckles (TV Carnage), produced by Abso Lutely, with Derrick Beckles and Dave Kneebone as executive producers. Live-action quarter-hour.

Pilots:

Aaron McGruder Pilots
Two new live-action pilots from the creator of The Boondocks. Live-action quarter-hour and half-hour:

Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories: Zach’s Haunted House – Tim, Eric and Zach are elated to learn their grandfather has left them each $1,000 in his will. However, there’s a catch. In order to collect the money, they must live in his haunted mansion for the rest of their lives. Are the three of them up for it? This Halloween special is written, directed and stars Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!)withZach Galifianakis(The Hangover). Live-action half-hour.

Ghostbags– These three frat guys were douchebags while they lived, but now that they’ve died in a horrible car accident, absolutely nothing has changed. Created by Hayes Davenport (Eastbound and Down) and Guy Endore-Kaiser (Allen Gregory). Animated quarter-hour.

Filthy Sexy Teen$– Filthy Sexy Teen$ follows the exploits of a group of teens (and one high school principal) as they attempt to climb the social ladder by any means possible, even if they have to use sex, lies, and murder to get there. It won’t be easy in a school where everyone has a dark secret, and one mysterious teen is out to expose every one of them. Created by Curtis Gwinn (Walking Dead), Paul Scheer (The League, Human Giant) and Jonathan Stern (Childrens Hospital, Burning Love). Live-action quarter-hour.

Team Unicorn– Team Unicorn is a modern send-up of Saturday morning kids’ shows featuring a team of four sexy, culture-obsessed heroines who present darkly ironic twists on 80’s cartoon tropes. From the creators of Space Ghost Coast toCoast) Live-action quarter-hour.

40 Comments

JUST WATCHED MR PICKLES TONIGHT I GONNA SAY. GREATEST EVER ADULT SWIM GAVE US XD PLS TELLME THERE GONNA BE MORE IT A MUST WATCH. BEING A SATANIST MYSELF I IN LOVE WITH MR PICKLES :3

Eye-Fi • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Adult Swim has lost its mojo. The pilots are from the same people they always deal with. No new voices, just the same old smug stuff. Fox’s late night block might come breathing down their necks.

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Fox’s new block is going to look just like AS.

Dkreamz • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

A lot of these are new production houses and new talent.

Poop Dollar • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Walt Newman is an absolute beast. There is some really funny stuff here. Best exec in town.

The voice of reason • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

“Best exec”? Seriously? First off, it helps to return calls.

Phlegmbot • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Amen, brother.

Never mind that 2 of these projects sound very (*VERY*) similar to projects I know for a fact were pitched by others — yet those people are apparently not involved.

David • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Seconded on Walt. Filthy Sexy Teen$ has so much potential and fits in perfectly with the other genre send-ups on the sched.

Canned Ham • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Their genre send-ups are their weakest stuff, poor man’s ZAZ. Approaching them like overextended sketches doesn’t help. I’ve been very disappointed with their latest fare.

Dwigt • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Filthy Sexy Teen$ was already conceptualized during the previous season of NTSF:SD:SUV:: at the end of the “16 Hop Street Episode”, with a fake trailer for “Filthy Sexy T$$ns”. It could be good, at least better than Newsreaders (the Childrens Hospital spin off) which was totally bland. The CW teen shows are already near parody, but there’s potential for this.

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Almost all AS shows are overextended sketches.

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Lots of spoofs.

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Axe Cop seems to be the only show.

Gilby • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

They need to get away from the live-action stuff. Pretty much ALL of it has been awful, apart from the first season of “Look Around You,” which was then ruined in the second season. And, despite seemingly being in the minority, Tim and Eric stuff is about 2% funny, 98% annoying tripe.

Fox Mulder • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Agreed. EAGLEHEART and NTSF:SD:SUV just make you miss POLICE SQUAD and SLEDGEHAMMER that did it so much better.

Al • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Look Around You was on Adult Swim, but not from Adult Swim. It originally aired on BBC in 2002.

Dkreamz • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Children’s hospital is pure gold.

fluffo • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Frat-boy/stoner garbage. Pass.

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Don’t you mean puff puff and pass?

Hug Monster • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Now that the idiot Nick Weidenfeld is gone, Adult Swim is a great place to develop again. Can finally make shows without getting hugged and noted to death.

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

No new anime? That’s really disappointing

Gorgotron • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

WHERE IS THE AQUA TEENS!?

z!lch • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

This is for adult swim not toonami. Toonami announced one piece and a few others coming soon.

fuzzy fungdungle • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

You’re not alone. I have hated tim and Eric since Tom goes to mayor and every outing just gets worse and worse. They could take a few lessons from Eric Andre with guerrilla comedy, or just die. Whatever.

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

I see same old garbage…no mc chris cartoon…

Chauncey Gardiner's Remote • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Mike Lazzo only buys shows from his friends and it shows.

chris • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

are these pilots they picked up? or just shot?

Adult Swim is a Joke • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Adult Swim really is the worst programming block out there. It’s bad enough the selection of original shows is poorly written and mediocre, but then for the network heads to keep buying shows from their same circle of friends is downright laughable.

For example, that Team Unicorn show is just some random derivative concoction produced by and starring Seth Green’s girlfriend. While Seth may do fine producing Robot Chicken, why give his girlfriend an entire live-action show on a network that prides itself on cartoons? Anyone can look up Team Unicorn on Youtube and see that it doesn’t really have an audience. The low view counts are all there for the public to observe. So, exactly which part of Team Unicorn’s lack of success did they use to talk Adult Swim network heads into giving her a show? It’s not there’s a lack of well-written, quality animation out there. Look all over Youtube and Newgrounds and you’ll see it. Talented guys looking for work.

Due to things like this, I seriously think once Fox’s (and the rumored Comedy Central’s) late night animation block are launched, they will quickly crush Adult Swim and their odd habit of nepotistic programming.

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Just like Spike did!

Anonymous • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

I like hugs

FilmRookie • on May 10, 2013 6:00 am

Kudos to Derrick Beckles for HOT PACKAGE being picked up for series. That guy is overflowing with talent.